The Weeknd says 'self-imposed pressure' caused him to lose voice and end L.A. show: 'It was the last straw'

The Weeknd has opened up about suddenly losing his voice at a concert in 2022, saying he thinks stress and "self-imposed pressure" caused it.

The Canadian singer-songwriter, a.k.a. Abel Tesfaye, made headlines after his voice cracked and he abruptly ended his performance at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium in September of that year. In a new interview about his upcoming sixth studio album, Hurry Up Tomorrow, and its companion film, he reflected on the incident and his fraying mental health at the time.

"I saw my doctor [after the concert], and he said, 'There's nothing wrong with you — your [vocal cords] are inflamed, but nothing out of the ordinary,'" the pop star told Variety.

"And that's when we came to the realization that it was all up here,” he continued, pointing to his head.

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At the time of his After Hours Til Dawn tour, he was also filming his divisive, now-canceled HBO series, The Idol, and working on other projects. "I just think it was the last straw, man," said the Weeknd. "There was a lot of self-imposed pressure: flying to L.A. between concerts [often from the East Coast], getting into character, shooting, and then flying back for the next show."

"Maybe it was that year," he said of what caused him to lose his voice, "but maybe it was my whole life: survival, school, family, friendships, relationships, making it in the music industry. I'd always kind of suppressed it. You know, delusion helps! My voice has always been my secret weapon, my superpower, to get through whatever I need to get through. And in that moment, reality hit: Everything can change after this moment."

The Weeknd added that the incident was the first time in his life he'd experienced anything like it. "My body, and specifically my voice, had never failed me before," said the musician. "I'd been on stage with a high fever, completely sick; I'd been on stage in the middle of a breakup or a death in the family; and I'd lost my voice during a performance. But I was always able to fight through it… I was defeated on the world stage with everyone watching."

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The ordeal led to an overhaul of his upcoming album, the final installment of a trilogy preceded by 2020's After Hours and 2022's Dawn FM. "I had a good chunk of the album done, but then [SoFi] happened, and other things happened after, and you go right back to the drawing board," said the Weeknd. "Because this was a really important, pinnacle moment in my life. How could it not be?"

Hurry Up Tomorrow is out Jan. 26, and its companion film of the same name arrives May 16. Billed as a "musically driven psychological thriller," the film will star the Weeknd (who also co-wrote the script) alongside Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly